In general, conventional devices, such as a printer, can receive and process compressed data files, such as JPEG or PNG compressed image files. However, most conventional computer systems having an operating system and one or more software applications running within the operating system do not provide a standardized format, such as an escape, to allow a software application to transfer a compressed data file directly to the device, including either a hardware device or a device driver. Accordingly, to pass a compressed file directly to a device, the application would typically have to recognize the individual device and have code specific to the device. However, as devices are upgraded or new devices are added, the application would no longer be compatible with these devices if the driver was modified. Moreover, a device specific driver would prevent an operating system from group formatting the compressed image, especially when multiple images are processed at the same time.
Because of the deficiencies associated with device-specific drivers, one conventional method for transferring compressed data image files from a software application to a device entails an application first decompressing the compressed image file into a device independent bitmap (DIB) format. This requires that each software application have the capability to properly decompress assorted compressed image files. Moreover, there is the potential for one or more conversion losses by the software application. For example, a typical DIB allows a maximum of 8-bits per color channel. If the image format and device support greater image fidelity, such as 16 bits per color channel, the fidelity would be lost during the DIB intermediate conversion.
Once the software application has decompressed the compressed image file into a DIB format under the conventional method, the software application then transfers the DIB via an application programming interface (API) to the operating system graphics device interface (GDI). Upon receiving the DIB, the GDI either stores the DIB within the GDI for immediate transfer to the device driver or sends the DIB to a spooler for later processing. In both scenarios, the transfer of an uncompressed DIB to the GDI places a greater strain on system resources in terms of greater requirements of processing time and increased burden on the data communication resources between the software application and the operating system. Additionally, if the GDI utilizes a spooler, the transfer of the uncompressed DIB from the GDI to the spooler utilizes more spooler storage space as well as placing a greater strain on system communication resources in transferring the DIB image to and from the spooler.
To complete the conventional file transfer, the DIB is transferred from the GDI to the device driver via a device driver interface (DDI). Again, the transfer of the uncompressed DIB from the GDI to the device driver places a greater strain on the computer system communication resources between the operating system and the hardware device.
Thus, there is a need for a compressed data file transfer structure and method in which the compressed files are transferred to a device without uncompressing the file.